Visit the Prison the Held the Man in the Iron Mask

During my tour, I learned about the island of Sainte-Marguerite, where the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned for 11 years so I decided to drop in for a visit. I loved the 1998 movie of the same name starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the king of France who imprisoned his twin brother to prevent him from making a claim to the throne. A 15-minute ferry ride from Cannes took me to the small island where I walked up a short trail to Fort Royal and entered the mysterious prisoner’s former cell. It was a large room with a medieval toilet. A French artist had lived in the prison for a few weeks and had decorated the walls with some shocking murals. The Fort Royal state prison at Sainte-Marguerite was built in the late 17th century and had the reputation of being the best prison in the realm. Prisoners did not receive a trial; rather they were sentenced by decree of the King who got his authority straight from God. How can you argue with that? Sentences were for an undetermined amount of time and some of the most common reasons for incarceration were:Jeopardizing the safety of the King and the continuity of the crownMisconduct while serving the KingDueling (with swords not banjos)Religious issues particularly Protestantism and JansenismPrinting and circulation of writingsHousing a misbehaving relative (at the cost of his family)

Good thing I didn’t live in 17th century France, I would have definitely done some time. The prison’s most famous inmate was a man arrested by Captain Alexandre de Vauroyaround 1669 and first held in a prison in Pignerol under the name Eustache Dauger. Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars, governor of the prison was instructed to visit the prisoner once a day to bring him food and anything else he needed. The prisoner was warned that if he spoke of anything other than his immediate needs he would be killed. In 1687, Governor Saint-Mars was transferred to Sainte-Marguerite and he took his prisoner with him. It was rumored the prisoner wore a black velvet mask to hide his identity. The masked prisoner followed Saint-Mars to the Bastille prison in Paris in 1698 and died on November 19th 1703. He was buried in St. Paul’s cemetery in Paris the following day under the name Monsieur de Marchiel. All of his possessions were reportedly destroyed. To this day no one really knows the exact reason for his imprisonment or why it was so important to keep his identity secret. Apparently he was charged with threatening the continuity of the crown. How does one threaten the continuity of a crown? Did he try to cut it in half? And how did he get close enough to the crown to threaten it in the first place? If the crown was so important you would think they would have people protecting it. Hey…maybe it was his job to protect it. As I stood in the cell, my curious mind started to wander. If no one was allowed to see him without his mask, how they could be certain that they had the same man after all those years? These dumb questions started to hurt my brain so I left the prison section of the building and visited the Museum of the Sea across the hall to check out their collection of items recovered from ancient Roman and Saracen shipwrecks. Afterwards I went for a walk around the island and stumbled upon a small cemetery for French soldiers who served in the Crimean War. During that time the fort was used as a care facility. Alongside it was another cemetery used to bury the North African soldiers who fought with the Allies during WWII. Wow, I had no idea this tiny island was so rich in history. After my walk I caught the ferry back to Cannes then hopped the train back to Nice.